Anchoring Consumer Choice on Non-traditional Menus

The food service industry is volatile due to the low barrier to entry, high level of competition and significantly low-profit margins. Foodservice operators are likely to reduce expenditures and save money wherever possible. Additionally, food service operators are known for being creative to attain an advantage on the competition. Designing menus that are less taxing on the consumer’s choice are a common approach to increasing revenue and enhancing the consumer experience. Furthermore, unique menus are likely to attribute to an improved consumer experience that carries an intangible value of word of mouth marketing between consumers.

Approximately 40 percent of North Americans eat at least one meal a day away from home, yet most colonial Americans never dined in a restaurant. Colonial Americans did eat away from home during church socials, funerals, weddings, and other special occasions. As early as the late seventeenth century, Colonial Americans began to frequent taverns, inns and boarding houses. Ironically, at this time, these establishments were required by law to offer meals for sale to travelers and workers that were away from home.

The requirement to offer food for sale meant the need for having a list of items for sale, hence, the menu was born. Although the menu has changed in appearance and format since Delmonico’s in the 1800s, the menu continues to serve the same purpose: to be the best marketing document. The menu is nearly guaranteed to be read by every patron. Best Buy and Walmart cannot claim that every customer reads a list of each product for sale.

Non-traditional menus such as chalkboard and tablets are growing in popularity throughout the United States. There is a significant amount of research that suggests anchoring menu items and prices entice a consumer to make a choice that best aligns with a restaurant’s profit margin. As technology changes our behavior, and how individuals choose to engage with brands, restaurants have proven to change their approach to the consumer experience.

It is common to visit restaurants that use tablets for menus or provide a tablet with each seat at the restaurant to keep the consumer occupied. Additionally, there is research that suggests table turnover times have decreased at such restaurants, which is likely to affect revenue for the restaurant and income for servers who rely on tips for compensation.

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Guest Service: Empowering People

Excellent customer service is vitally important in all businesses but it is especially important for hotels where customer service is the lifeblood of the business. Outstanding customer service is essential in creating new customers, retaining existing customers, and cultivating referrals for future customers. Employees who meet and exceed guest expectations are critical to a hotel's success, and it begins with the hiring process. It is imperative for HR personnel to screen for and hire people who inherently possess customer-friendly traits - empathy, warmth and conscientiousness - which allow them to serve guests naturally and authentically. Trait-based hiring means considering more than just a candidate's technical skills and background; it means looking for and selecting employees who naturally desire to take care of people, who derive satisfaction and pleasure from fulfilling guests' needs, and who don't consider customer service to be a chore. Without the presence of these specific traits and attributes, it is difficult for an employee to provide genuine hospitality. Once that kind of employee has been hired, it is necessary to empower them. Some forward-thinking hotels empower their employees to proactively fix customer problems without having to wait for management approval. This employee empowerment—the permission to be creative, and even having the authority to spend money on a customer's behalf - is a resourceful way to resolve guest problems quickly and efficiently. When management places their faith in an employee's good judgment, it inspires a sense of trust and provides a sense of higher purpose beyond a simple paycheck. The April issue of the Hotel Business Review will document what some leading hotels are doing to cultivate and manage guest satisfaction in their operations.